Smba’s Marathon of Growth
Photos by Michael Salisbury
Last time we caught up with Smba, there was still snow on the ground and EP #2 was still on the way. Now as we reach the end of summer and Claustrophobic, the aforementioned second EP, has finally been released, we decided to catch-up with Smba to talk about their newly released track and video, “Marathon.” Written and produced around the same time they were finishing the sophomore project, this song takes listeners through Smba’s journey of maturity and realization of self-worth. Check out the Q&A below for an in-depth look into their new single and video and how they define personal growth.
Hello! What’s good? It’s been a minute since we last spoke. How’ve you been?
Yo! I've been good. Most importantly I've been trying to learn about myself and grow but I've also been working on a lot of music, some new events, a secret music project and I signed some new artists to 2db co!
In this new single, you explore the reality of entering early adulthood. As you grow older, how do you see yourself maturing alongside your music? In what ways do you see your writing or production techniques change over time?
Adulthood….Yeah ouch. I talk about that alot on EP #3 too…I've said too much. But yeah, I do, it's kind of crazy. I use my music as a journal of what's going on in my life as it's going on so the lyrics almost always reflect my maturity and progress, but recently I've been realizing the sounds do too! Whatever sounds/instrumentals I pick are a result of what's going on in my life at the moment, my tastes at the moment, what I've been listening to etc. I think as I get older and I reflect on more mature thoughts and I soak in more mature bodies of work, my work will in turn become more mature and intricate as well. I'm learning a lot about the three-act story structure right now. Right before Claustrophobic, I studied a lot of shakespeare. Stuff like that really helps me move forward! I see my work and production becoming even more intricate and nuanced over time.
I definitely feel how fitting the title is in relation to the structure of the song. As the fast-paced nature of the first half eventually flows into the more mellow second half, it feels as if the song itself is capturing the stages of a marathon. I’m curious though to hear your perspective behind the title and its relationship to the song?
That's interesting!! I actually didn't even think about it like that to be honest! I was going to call the track “Victory Lap” because I made it when I was wrapping Claustrophobic and I felt like this was more of an afterthought than or at least someway still attached to Claustrophobic than its own thing. With that being said, I eventually ended up changing the name to “Marathon” because I realised this wasn't the victory lap at all! My victory lap will happen when I've won my Grammys and had my tours and all of that, but until then, I'm still running the marathon.
I always appreciate a well-executed beat switch in a song. Being that this track was self-produced, I was wondering what led you to decide to make the choice of splitting the track into two separate beats?
Thank you! I'm also a big fan of beat switches. The funny story about “Marathon” is that it was originally two different songs I made about a month apart from each other. I made the second half first at around 3 AM on a Saturday, and I made the first half independently a while later. I eventually realized the first song was a good preface to the second and the rest is history!
To pair with the single, you also released a video for the track. What’s your creative process like when brainstorming how to visually present the story being told in your music?
It totally depends on the song. For this one I had a lot of help. Myself, my manager, and my A&R started off with a super simple video idea that we then took to Kenzo Cohen. He more or less called our idea boring, but he pitched something very close to the final product and then we all added input up until like an hour before and even during shooting. When I say collaborative, I mean collaborative, people on set or even just in the street in Chicago were throwing out ideas and opinions. After that we handed off the video to the editor that works with 2DB, Matthew Saponar, and he absolutely brought it to life; had added a whole new layer of charisma and mood to the video we didn't even plan for in shooting. Shout out Matt man.
Similar to the contrasting structure of the single, in the video, viewers follow you as you become absorbed by the hectic, crowdedness of Michigan Ave until the beat switch in which you invite viewers into a more intimate setting. Tell me more about the development of this concept for the video.
Me and the team were talking about how this video is just so me, you know? I feel that this video is an amazing representation of Summer/Fall 2021 Smba. With that being said, a lot of it had to do with my personality. I'm an extroverted introvert as my manager Michael Magitman says. I can make an impression in a crowd full of people, but I'm way more comfortable by myself. In the first half of the video I'm rapping about what needs to change and why we need to do it, the second half is not only more laid back and comfortable with the mix and production but the lyrics are mostly about accomplishments and manifesting. I think that reflection and projection in the second half requires a different type of comfort than the first half. I think the video displays that very well. That's my take, maybe Kenzo wrote it differently in his head lol.
Considering self-reflection is a major theme throughout the song, is there any advice you wanna leave listeners with in regards to bettering themselves?
The biggest advice I can give is to listen to yourself!! Try to do a lot of real self reflection and improvement! I know it's hard but the more you dig up the lighter you'll feel. There's a lot of issues that won't be able to be solved but understanding how you react and feel about them might help you deal with it.